> I see this all the time. Why is it that the installer doesn't allow you
> to retry a package ... and instead errors out and dies...
>> I actually tested my media and I still had the problem at some point in
> my installation.
>> Bottom line though it shouldn't just die. Give a chance to retry,
> abort, or ignore...and continue giving that chance until the USER
> decides to abort.
I'm afraid I'll have to second this opinion. Have seen this on
faulty cd-rom drives which will randomly refuse to read portions
of the disc. While no package that failed to open was critical to
the install, the fact that even one package couldn't be opened
deep-sixed the whole installation.
Possible solutions:
1) Recalculate the dependancy tree at that point, leaving out the file(s)
that could not be read and their dependancies.
2) Just install everything as planned except for packages which appear
to be corrupt or unreadable. Install missing packages later.
3) Allow the person at the console to change the CD.
4) Try'n grab the missing file from an ftp site if we have the
network up. For example the installer could attemt to do this
when the failure occurs, or create a script to do this once
the system is installed, in case of (1) or (2) above.
5) If the missing package is small enough, ask for a floppy disk
with the package copied to it.
It seems to me that (1) or (2) in combination with (4) would be most
convenient for the person doing the install. (3) or (5) however, would
still help and might be easier to do.
Ed